British Council Ukraine together with the International Documentary Film Festival on Human Rights Docudays UA and The Guardian publication launched a programme to support Ukrainian short docs – a documentary projects competition The Guardian Goes Ukraine.
Young directors from Ukraine will get a unique opportunity to find financial support for their own short films, work with professionals from the UK and Ukraine and showcase their projects at one of the most visited online resources in the world – The Guardian. The organizers are looking for stories related to social changes and/or new developments in Ukraine that can be expressed through interesting characters and engage the widest possible range of viewers around the world.
Presentation of the competition featuring Charlie Phillips, Head of The Guardian Documentary, will be held in Kyiv on December 11 at 19:00. Venue: MediaHUB, Suvorov 4/6. The entrance is free.
It was Charlie Phillips's idea to create The Guardian documentary: "This new slot is designed for international short documentaries that combine the best elements of our work – narrative stories and journalism". Now the editors of The Guardian documentary seek Ukrainian producer, who will be able to tell an extraordinary story in an engaging way. Charlie Phillips believes that the world had not heard enough voices from Ukraine: "Even despite the unstable situation in Ukraine, it is clear that there are just incredible stories here which others do not hear, especially online. Our main goal at The Guardian is to help those who are voiceless now to be heard and expand access to international stories, and I believe that competition in Ukraine will help us achieve this goal".
The short-list will include six documentary projects that will be presented to the judging panel consisting of experts from the UK and Ukraine during the pitch at the Docudays UA festival on 31 March 2016. The winner will receive a grant of up to 5,000 pounds, and two more winning directors will be awarded up to £ 3,000 each for the production of their documentaries.
The judging panel of the project consists of: Advisor to the British Council for Cinema Christine Bardsley, art director of Docudays UA Roman Bondarchuk, Head of The Guardian Documentary Charlie Phillips and famous Ukrainian documentary filmmaker Sergei Bukovskiy.
Applications will be accepted until 15 February 2016. Details of the conditions of participation and competition schedule can be found online and at the Facebook group.
